(Successful) DIY Day

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm on a bit of a DIY kick right now.

And yesterday was anything but successful. Remember this?

Umm, yeah. I rest my case.

But more on that in a minute.

Today was "Charlie Gets His Teeth Cleaned Day." For those of you that don't know what this entails (like I didn't), you take your dog to the vet in the morning, they whip out the anesthetic, knock him out, clean his teeth, and you pick him up late in the afternoon. That's a lot of work to clean teeth, if you ask me.

Since I still needed to pick up some supplies for my projects, I had my sister come with me to take Charlie to the vet so we could run errands while I was out. We got to Matthew's house to pick up Charlie, only to find out that the leash was still in Matthew's car. Slight problem. But since he only works about 5 minutes from his house, we drove over, met him in the parking lot, and got the leash.

Did I mention Charlie gets REALLY excited about car rides?

REALLY excited.

And then, he saw Matt and was EVEN MORE excited.

But then we left.

Whoa, buddy.

Charlie was NOT cool with that.

He cried.

And cried.

And didn't stop crying all the way to the vet. Did I mention that we got stopped by not 1, not 2, but 3 trains on this little trip?!

To top it off, he was shaking up a storm like he had just experienced the greatest trauma of his life.

He was temporarily transfixed by train #3.



We finally got him to the vet, and he was NOT cool with that either. Scratch that. He was fine getting out of the car and walking into the building, but as soon as I started filling out the paperwork, he was heading for the door.

No, he was literally walking to the door.

And when they came to get him, it was the barking, the cowering, the pulling at the leash, the mid-air acrobatics. Like his adventure at PetSmart the other day, but not quite as bad.

After dropping my favorite drama king off at the vet, my sister and I hit Panera (home of the world's hottest coffee) before running to JoAnn's and Lowes to finish getting the supplies I needed for my projects.

I would like to point out that these were supposed to be CHEAP projects. So not the case.

I got my awesome zebra print fabric for my crate seating and the chair I bought yesterday. Then I went to get the foam for the crate seats. Thank goodness for a 50% off coupon, because that stuff is ridiculously
E-X-P-E-N-S-I-V-E. Even with 50% off it was still $20 for 2 1/2 yards of the stuff-CRAZY!

At Lowe's, I found my beautiful paint for my chair (and was talked into buying a gallon of the stuff-lots of painting on the horizon). I was also able to show off my nonexistent lumber knowledge base as I struggled to explain what I needed for my crate seating. But, awesome thing about Lowes, they will cut the wood for you in store.

Turns out that it helps if you get your dimensions right. I'll be visiting my grandpa and his workshop tomorrow to make my particle board fit my crates.

Oops.

I also learned that my Jetta is not built for hauling leftover sheets of particle board. Mental note made.

Since I totally screwed up my crate seats for the day, I decided to start in on my chair. Ooo-and I didn't show you my chair yesterday, did I?

You are in for a treat.

You can't tell me that that chair isn't the most beautiful chair you've ever seen! Oh, and the fabric on the seat-LOVE IT! Absolutely gorgeous!

NOT.

So this afternoon, I sanded, I tightened screws, I painted, and I reupholstered.

Behold, my new classroom chair:

Not bad, right?! I'm pretty much in love with it. 

I also salvaged my disaster of a picture frame, which now looks like this:

MUCH better.

Ok, I know this is getting long, but when I got to Matt's this evening, Charlie was still a little drowsy from the anesthetic. 

He was so out of it.

I'll post a video later. It's quite entertaining.

EDIT: Here's that video I promised. I would like to point out that a)his right eye really can't stay open and b) he's falling asleep while sitting up.

Charlie After Anesthesia from Ms. Ellison on Vimeo.

New look, new resource!

Ok, I know that I promised a freebie when I hit 50 followers, but, well, it took A LOT longer than I thought to finish it up.

And I mean A LOT longer.

And it certainly doesn't help that I'm a perfectionist and spent a insane amount of time moving text boxes around the page-and not big moves, mind you, teeny tiny, minuscule nudges around the page.

I know, I'm ridiculous.

Of course, it didn't help that halfway through my awesome resource (see how I'm building suspense?) I got momentarily distracted inspired and ended up redesigning my entire blog.

Oh yeah, I made this from scratch. By myself. Google helped out, too.

No more generic template for this girl-my blog now has a one-of-a-kind design. And I love it. (Can you tell?!?!)

Wouldn't you know, my freebie that I made just for you is pretty darn awesome, too! (Not that I'm going to tell you what it is yet. Suspense. Duh.)


Charlie and I had a lovely walk this morning-it was nice and cool, the birds were chirping, he barked at every dog in the neighborhood (and the nice old man that was just trying to say "Hello").

This afternoon while I was creating, Charlie took a nap. I'm pretty sure this dog should be named "Pretzel"-I really have no idea how he gets himself into some of his crazy positions. Stranger yet, he actually sleeps while contorted. Weirdo.

This position doesn't actually look all that weird at first. But then you realize that there's something crazy going on with those front paws. And the dangling leg. He's just too cute for his own good.

Anywho--I know you're just DYING to know what I've cooked up for my 50 Follower Freebie! So without further ado, may I present to you...

The Laura Ellison

Independent Reading Journal of Awesomeness!!!!!

(What? Too much?)

You get:

• 4 color covers (with a super cute chevron background
• 2 black and white covers (one with chevrons, one without)
• A journal checklist
• Book Fact Sheet
• Daily reading log
• Character Portrait
• Setting Snapshot
• Point of View Postcard
• Book Review
• Journal completion/scoring sheet
• 2 Daily Journal pages (4 designs)

Basically, your kids can use this with any book that they're reading independently. Consider it...an alternative book report. And, it's an easy way for you to hold them accountable for their independent reading. 

On the daily reading log, they can log how long they read and how many pages they read. After the finish reading, they fill out (half) a journal page. Because there are two entries on a page. In their journal entry, they write a short summary of what they read that day, and then make a connection to the text (which is GREAT practice for those pesky extended response questions!). 

There is a TON of fun stuff in this set! Seriously, I am in LOVE with it! 

Since you were one of my first 50 57 followers, you get it for free!!! Yay, you!!!

You better hurry and download it, because it won't be free forever! It'll be $3.00 in my TpT store starting Saturday, so spread the word! It's too late for this freebie, but you can still get buy it in my TpT store!

Enjoy your evening!